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Commissioner Burt Bell working on the NFL schedule for the upcoming season. March 27, 1951.
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Commissioner Burt Bell working on the NFL schedule for the upcoming season. March 27, 1951.

Credit: Courtesy Urban Archives, Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia

After becoming NFL commissioner in 1946, Philadelphia Eagles owner Bert Bell moved the league offices from Chicago to Philadelphia. The first sports commissioner to court television, Bell insisted that all games be blacked out within a 75-mile radius of home stadiums and instituted the two-minute warning at the end of each half to guarantee broadcast advertisers two additional commercial opportunities per game.

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